Man saves boy at Bedok Jetty

SINGAPORE - He could have drowned, if not for the brave actions of a stranger.

The boy, who was at the Bedok Jetty with a group of friends, was having trouble swimming to shore after jumping off the jetty.

"His head kept going under the waves. Desperate, he tried to grab his friend who was in front of him, which worsened the situation, causing the other kid's head to dip into the sea as well," an eyewitness, Mr Teo Wen Shiun, who was resting at the jetty with his friends, told citizen journalism website Stomp.

As they struggled, the current pushed them underneath the jetty. Mr Teo said a man waded into the sea from the beach to assess the situation.

The boy had apparently become stuck underneath the jetty, cutting his leg against a sharp rock.

His friend managed to return safely to shore.

The man then swam underneath the jetty to rescue the boy while onlookers threw a life buoy into the sea for the boy, who was eventually rescued.

The incident happened at around 7pm over the weekend.

It is believed that a group of five boys had been playing at the jetty, jumping into the sea and swimming to shore, only to repeat the action at a point further out at sea.

However, as the tide rose and the current got stronger, one of the boys could not swim back.

When The New Paper visited Bedok Jetty on Monday evening, a few anglers said that they would often see children jumping into the sea.

Said a 40-year-old taxi driver who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan: "You will always have children jumping in."

Dangerous

Mr Tan, who was fishing with his wife and daughter, added: "Sometimes we try to stop them, but we cannot. It's quite dangerous because there are rocks and stones."

Angler Sam Xie, 35, who visits the jetty every day, said he often sees children jumping into the sea.

He added with a smile: "When I was young, I also jumped down".

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